Arabian Peninsula Geography

Map 1: Map of the Arabian Peninsula and Vicinity

Map 1

• Arabia in geographical terms = Arabian Peninsula

• now home to seven modern states

• the higher the elevation, the lighter the shading.

• highest region of the Arabian Peninsula is its southern and westernmost tip– the highest mountain is

over 12,000 feet high.

Worksheet 1

• Using Map 1 and Map 4• Work as individuals or in small groups to

complete• Use blank map and fill in place names as you

go

Worksheet 2

• Read The Geography of the Arabian Peninsula. • Use Map 2 and Map 3 to answer the questions

on Handout 2, • Independently please

Discussion

• Even before the advent of modern technology, humans learned to live in and adapt to the climate of the Arabian Peninsula.

• How might they have used the resources at hand to provide themselves with food, water, shelter, clothing, and means of transportation?

• On a blank map, circle the areas that you think will be able to support sedentary populations based on a permanent food source.

• Which areas of the Arabian Peninsula could not support permanent settlement but might support a nomadic lifestyle?

• predict the location of oases & plot a course that a traveler might use moving from one oasis to the next.

• What overland trade routes might have developed throughout the Arabian Peninsula from the south in Yemen up north into Mesopotamia (current-day Iraq) and the Levant (the area bordering the eastern Mediterranean)?

• predict how peoples native to the Arabian Peninsula, like the Bedouins, might dress.

• Why are camels the ideal means of transport across the deserts of Arabia? •

• Other than transportation, for what other reasons would people in the region rely

• on camels? • What types of shelters do you think nomads of the region would

develop?• How many miles do you think nomadic peoples could cover in one day

and why? • Given what you have learned about the Arabian Peninsula, how many

people do you think will live together in a nomadic group or tribe?